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Subject: Thurs.22.4.21 daily digest
Roderick
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Thurs.22.4.21 Metro Twitter
16.04 All lines: Delays (police request at Southern Cross). Richmond routes will run direct to/from Flinders Street. Others will be held.
- 16.07 We're being told by pa to stay at Southern Cross.
- 16.08 Shouldn’t you be letting passengers know to leave and make alternative plans?
- 16.15 Delays clearing. Trains may terminate/originate at intermediate stations [to help us reduced penalty payments]
- 16.27 I’m going through the loop now. What a waste of walking from Flagstaff to Flinders St, only to go through the loop. Thanks for the cardio.
- Another day travelling with metro. Time for you to go. Every day, an excuse
- Do Victoria police tell you what the problem is? How do they justify this?
16.39 Minor delays South Yarra - Sandringham (police).
- 16.46 Now major.
- 16.52 Clearing.
Buses replace trains Epping - Mernda from 20.50 until the last train (works take).
‘Bring people back to town’: Government considers free public transport to boost CBD. Matt Wade April 22, 2021
The Berejiklian government will consider making public transport to Sydney’s Central Business District free on some days in a bid to reignite economic activity in the city’s commercial hub.
State Treasurer Dominic Perrottet will also lobby his federal counterpart Josh Frydenberg to temporarily suspend fringe benefits tax on spending in the CBD to help hospitality businesses.
NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet and Sydney Lord Mayor, Clover Moore at the Sydney CBD summitCREDIT:SMH
“If we could bring back to the long lunch on Friday, what a great thing that would be,” he said.
Economic activity in Sydney’s CBD is still well down on pre-pandemic levels with commercial occupancy rates at around 50 per cent. The NSW government hosted a business summit on Thursday to canvass ways to revive the inner city economy. Proposals for free public transport to the CBD and fringe benefits tax relief were among the many suggestions made by summit participants.
Mr Perrottet said business feedback showed Mondays and Fridays were particularly slow in the CBD.
“We need to look at incentives to bring people back into town on Mondays and Fridays...and public transport is one of them,” he said.
There is a push to provide free public transport on certain days to encourage people to return to the CBD. CREDIT:KATE GERAGHTY
Free public transport to the CBD could be targeted to “on certain days and at certain times”, Mr Perrottet said.
The state government will spend an additional $20 million on suggestions made at the business summit to revitalise inner Sydney.
“We want more people back in the city, whether that’s working of shopping or coming for entertainment and dining,” Mr Perrottet said.
Hospitality industry figures at the summit, including Justin Hemmes and Luke Mangan, called for a temporary suspension of fringe benefits tax (FBT) to help boost activity in the sector. FBT is a federal tax paid by companies on any non-cash benefits provided to employees such as restaurant meals.
Mr Perrottet said he would suggest this proposal to federal Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg. Even if the federal government does not provide FBT relief, Mr Perrottet said he will consider ways the state government could assist.
“I’m happy to look at funding at the state level that could drive activity in that space,” he said. “We could look at what [fringe benefits] tax may have paid and look at a rebate.”
When The Herald asked Mr Frydenberg whether the government would provide FBT relief for CBD businesses he said the federal government is “continuing to support businesses through company tax cuts which will take effect on 1 July, seeing the rate fall to 25 per cent for companies with a turnover of less than $50 million as well through record investment incentives to encourage businesses to back themselves.”
The Lord Mayor of Sydney Clover Moore called for free public transport on Fridays to encourage people to travel to the CBD. Summit participants also suggested the CBD light rail should be made free to facilitate movement around the inner city.
Planning Minister Rob Stokes, who also attended the summit, said Sydney’s CBD would need to be reshaped following the pandemic.
“A great city is like a great party - people want to stay longer because they are having fun,” he said. “We want to make this city to be more inclusive, we want to give people more reasons to come here.”
Earlier this week NSW’s chief economist, Stephen Walters, told the Herald that CBD office spaces left empty since the initial COVID-19 lockdown could be transformed into residential apartments. Mr Walters, who addressed the CBD summit, said inner Sydney would eventually recover from its slump but needed to embrace bold new initiatives to overcome changes to work patterns.
RELATED ARTICLE The second rate cut in two months will drive commercial property prices up. ‘Don’t cut off the city’s nose to spite its face’: Warnings over CBD apartment proposal
<www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/bring-people-back-to-town-government-considers-free-public-transport-to-boost-cbd-20210422-p57lim.html>
* How about the NSW Government does some research on consumer/commuter behaviour/views to understand what they use the CBD for and what they like and don't like about it, then base your solutions off that. Afterwards you can bring in your so-called captains of industry and pollies to workshop solutions off that intelligence instead of hosting a jerk off session where you spitball tired ideas like free transport days and tax write offs for long lunches.
* Long lunches?! So much for productivity gains from a Treasurer. As a public servant, I work in an alcohol-free workplace and can't accept a client paying for my coffee. It's embarrassing when late Friday, corporates and Ministerial staff roll back to issue drunken orders. Maybe do something for the small businesses where most of us dash out to buy a sandwich at our own expense.
* Sydney CBD as a cultural hub is gone. Sydney Entertainment Centre near Paddy Market, which used to be a throbbing hub of rock concerts are now a dull high rise apartment housing international students... So without these cultural centres there is not much reason to visit CBD
* Proposing a tax break on free lunches is yet another rort by the LNP/IPA for the average taxpayer to subsidize the lifestyle of those who can afford the time and money to do so.
* Bring back Sunday FunDay at the very least.
* then ban cars from the roads , we might even end up with something called a society .
* it is Public Transport , it should be free ,probably work out better economically . if its free it will be used more therefor will need to expand , electric buses and kill two birds with one stone .
* The cost of public transport would be a very small percentage of the cost of a night out. Can't see this being a deal-breaker that would influence a person's decision to go or not. Improving the availability of transport would be a better attraction.
* How about reverting peak/off-peak times to what they were pre-pandemic?
* The real workers in NSW Government are poorly paid and can't afford to buy lunch, they have to bring it from home. They don't have time for leisurely long lunches. Free public transport won't help the executives, they won't use it and will continue to use their salary packaged cars. Another out of touch idea from Perrotet in his ivory tower.
* A bunch of people all pushing their vested interests. And all based on an unexamined assumption, that packing people onto trains, buses and cars into the CBD is the best use of our financial, human and environmental resources. Was there any proof of this presented?
* How about restoring bus services and returning off peak fares to actual off peak. Another bunch of hot air media show from the LNP.
* “to temporarily suspend fringe benefits tax on spending in the CBD to help hospitality businesses.“ This tax payer funded largess to support the fat cats of Australia should be abolished completely. The FBT is just another perk for those who have.
* Why go to the city? There’s nothing there. The only shopping is Westfield/Pitt St Mall/ QVB, all of which have nothing but the chain stores available in suburban hubs. It’s hard to find somewhere to eat that’s not a mall or in a walkway. What there is is nothing special. The overwhelming reason people came to the city was to work, and the shopping and hospitality were incidental to that. It’s becoming pretty obvious that the majority of people are happy in the burbs.
* Ah yes, free public transport, to visit cultural institutions that are barely staffed, barely open or barely affordable.
* Contrary given they sent the public service out of the CBD, and sold or are stilk selling and relocating the public service.
* “We want more people back in the city, whether that’s working of shopping or coming for entertainment and dining,” Mr Perrottet said Why? Does he have no imagination? We have an opportunity to reduce wasteful of time and energy commutes. make better use of our suburbs, improve quality of life. It’s a bit rich coming from a guy who wanted to change the electorate he represented to one a couple of suburbs closer to home.
* Pokies pub owners and clubs have made so much money during the pandemic (thanks to super withdrawals, job seeker increases job keeper to pay staff and for the flow through their evil machines) the amount of money that goes through machines is staggering, https://www.liquorandgaming.nsw.gov.au/resources/gaming-machine-data Pubs and clubs should NOT be getting any support from the tax payer,.
* it would help if rob stokes looked after his electorate and stopped the cuts to public transport, rather than giving free transport, just dont cut what is already there
* What, the libs giving away something for free... they hiked transport cost up during the pandemic, when people were losing their jobs.... tells you the kind of government they really are!
* Long lunches... I work in the city and get 30 minutes. Maybe I should get in to politics.
* we’re perfectly happy working from home, and free public transport isn’t going to change that one bit.
* How about getting quarantine out of our major cities and solve the hotel transmission problem at the same time. Duplicate Howard Springs.
* No we do not want Mr Perrottet's crumbs, we want NO land tax levied on the land on which sits the family home.
* If people want a long lunch they can pay for it. In the meantime spend money increasing JobSeeker and encourage employers to give decent pay rises. Oh and force Harvey Norman and others to repay the JobKeeper they did not need (they can deduct the tax they have to pay on it).
* If you want more life in the CBD firstly get rid of the poker machines that infest the city people will not spend if they have lost thousands on these infernal machines that pollute Sydney.
* What? Appreciate that you are an anti poker machine person but this is like saying if you want to get people to ride bikes, close all the fish and chip shops. Makes zero sense.
* Yes, there's billions of dollars put through pokies that would otherwise support small businesses. Also people won't lose their family home and marriage, as happens now.
* The CBD is not an attractive destination. Noisy, smelly, dusty and exhausting. More work needs to be done to calm down the traffic and make the streets more enticing. On the streets with the light rail it is rather pleasant, away from that narrow oasis it is appalling. Free public transport won't help.
* agreed. The trams along George St literally kill all the buzz and energy that was there in its hey days. Those days are gone. Windswept miserable George St with the rumblings of trams every 15 min. No thanks.
* Long Friday lunches would be a 'great thing'. Where is the productivity gain in that? How about doing something about low wage and salary growth?
* Not a good idea. Want to miss your service to somewhere outside the CBD, because it is packed with people who are too lazy to walk two blocks? The only way to offer 'free' public transport in the CBD is to run additional services that only take passengers within the CBD. Those additional services come with additional operating costs and no revenue. 'Cheaper' public transport is just a hand-out from the ever increasing tax-payer funded subsidy. Even worse, it is probably just Dominic grandstanding, to position himself for a post-Gladys political landscape.
* Great idea.
* You could start by getting your own workers back in the office a couple of days a week. I know a number of public servants who are “WFH” and not doing much or working late at night and unable to return calls.
* I doubt that.
* Not a convincing argument on any front. Melbourne has free public transport on the light rain within the boundaries of the cbd.
* The light rail must have priority at traffic lights - it's the only way to make a proper public transport system!
* What about returning to cheaper transports on Sundays? The government secretly changed this during the COVID crisis for no other reason then to charge more for public transport, and to push more people into cars.
* Times are changing and the CBD will have to change with them. We will not return to pre covid office occupancy so why not adapt rather than insist on the past. The best suggestion has been the conversion of abandoned office space to affordable and livable housing - get people living in the CBD rather than just commuting. Retail will have to adapt to the new environment. In addition, bring in regulations that ensure presently unoccupied units are rented out within 6 months of purchase or the council has the right to occupy them with tenants of their choosing at rates set by the council.
* Agreed. Some things just will not be the same after covid - they better adapt to it !
* Just follow Melbourne and make the trams free between central and circular quay.
* And trains and buses
* The NSW Government never mentions that thousands of its public servants (including Education, Health, TfNSW) were moved out of the CBD in recent times.
* What minor, over-salaried, portion of the workforce is charging long lunches to expenses, causing an FBT issue?
* Clover moore plan too ?
* So wealthy CBD businessmen get their lunches subsidised by the tax-payer....that sounds really fair. Must be a better way to spend taxpayers dollars to get the economy going.
* Who has the time and money for Friday Long Lunches. Oh that’s right. Politicians.
* I’m sick of this ‘help the hospitality’ BS. Limiting Airbnb stays to 180 nights per year will ruin our local economy all at the hands of the NSW government. I’m going to make a stab in the dark, and I bet it’s not even a fart in the wind in regards to solving the housing shortage.
* Air BNB should be banded. Houses should be homes, not businesses.
* Please refrain from telling me what my house should be, because, with respect, what I do with my place is none of your business. It is however my business, and the approved secondary dwelling we built after some of our numerous offspring left will help secure our income in our retirement. You don't have to like it, but don't try to outlaw what you don't embrace please, there is already too much of that going on.
* What about the ability of people to be able to rent a home? Doesn't that bring more to the economy _long term residents?
* Why not bring back $2.50 Opal fare on Sundays ? doesn't have to be completely free, a discount would be good. for example, if you go to CBD 4 times a week, then the weekend travel to CBD is free. We still have to be covid-safe, remember ?
* You have to be joking. Packed trains and buses in a pandemic?
* They already are
* Agreed - the threats posed by quarantine hotel leaks - most of them in CBD - is still there. Daily we are bombarded with overseas arrivals quarantining in CBD.
* FBT free long Friday lunches??? What planet does the NSW treasurer come from - maybe NSW parliamentarians can get that, my private enterprise employer would sack anyone who tried to bill a lunch to them!!
* Self employed and contractors will love it.
* We self-employed don’t have time to eat lunch
* They’ll probably be too busy working to take this up